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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review: Memoria Press: Astronomy and Greek Myths

Memoria Press specializes in Classical Education. These two curriculums are designed for grades 3+ and can be used together or independent of one another.

Classical education focuses a lot on memorization. These books, particularly the Astronomy book is exhibits this.

The Book of Astronomy focuses on learning the constellations and the brightest stars in the sky. Each lesson the 15 brightest stars are written in order by brightness, and each additional lesson builds upon that by introducing a constellation that includes one of those stars. Each constellation is talked about and a written exercise follows (questions and answers format). They are also asked to draw and label the constellations from a blank star map.

The lessons often cross reference the D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, which is why The Book of Astronomy goes well with the D’Aulaires Greek Myths curriculum.

The Teacher Guide for Book of Astronomy is quite handy, as it has the answers to the written exercises.

We spent about 2 days on each lesson of Astronomy.

D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths is also in workbook format. Each lesson includes Facts to know, Vocabulary, Comprehension questions and Activities that correspond with the stories in the book D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. The format of this curriculum is quite similar to that of the New Testament curriculum we reviewed earlier.

Greek Myths also includes flash cards to aide in the memorization of the Greek Myth characters.

The Teacher Guide for Greek Myths is also a handy addition for answers.

We spent about 5 days on each Greek Myths lesson, we skipped around based on the order in the Book of Astronomy of constellations. We took one day to read the story and then one day for each section per lesson. Lessons probably could be completed faster or slower, there is room individual adjustment.

If you follow the classical model, I highly recommend both of these curriculum, and Memoria Press. If you are not familiar with the classical method, I suggest you research it thoroughly.

As previously mentioned it does incorporate memorization, it also includes a lot of writing in workbooks. My son is a struggling writher and found the work monotonous. He didn’t really enjoy it.

The lessons, however, are very thorough and there is much to be learned by this method, if it’s a good match for your child.

For the Astronomy we incorporated some more hands on projects to apply what was being taught/learned. This is also an option for those that are more kinesthetic learners.

When choosing a curriculum/method I feel it is important to focus on how your child learns best and your vision of your homeschool. If classical is a good fit for your homeschool, I suggest looking into Memoria Press. They have a wide variety of options available and all are high quality!

The D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths set can be purchased for $45.95 or as individual items. The Book of Astronomy set can be purchased for $31.90 or as individual items.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.